Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom is a fantasy/sci-fi role-playing video game developed and published by Sega for the Genesis on 1990-04-21.
Contents
Personal
A friend of mine in middle school had this game. I saw him playing it fairly early on (after getting Wren in Aridia). I remember being really impressed by the game's graphics and music, and very surprised to see robots and cyborgs in a fantasy-themed RPG, but I really enjoyed it. I almost never played the game, and was content watching my friend play, but we mostly just did combat grinding because he was way under-leveled. I watched him get Lyle and make it to the town of Shusoran, but he stopped playing it after that (no doubt replaced by a better game). Years later, I found a collection of Genesis VGM files and listened to the music again which made me nostalgic for the game, but I was bored with old-style RPGs, so I didn't try playing it. Then, many years later still, I decided to play the game through on an emulator (where I can increase the speed to breeze through grinding) just to see if I had missed out on a great game.
Status
I don't own the game, but am playing it.
Review
Good
- The graphics, especially those in the cut-scenes, portraits, and enemies, are great.
- The game has fantastic music. A lot of the themes are quite memorable with great melodies. It also makes good use of dynamic music which changes depending on how well you're doing in combat and how many people are in your party.
- The idea of playing several generations of characters was a very clever idea. I love how characters you once played continue to grow old and become kings and queens while you control their offspring.
- NPC conversations, though dull, is updated as you progress through the game, which is a nice addition.
- I like the animated iconographic combat interface.
- Allowing the player to choose who they will marry in each section adds additional replay value by letting you choose different spouses for each play-through.
Bad
- The introductory story is horrible. Rhys marries some random woman who washed up on the shore, then she's kidnapped by a dragon, then Rhys swears to get her back even if it means invading Laya, which people think are already dead, so the king puts him in the dungeon which is filled with money and equipment, and a strange woman helps him escape. So he goes to find a cyborg who has been waiting for him for a 1,000 years. Not a good start!
- The button setup is a bit odd. Using the same button for attacking and the status menu is very unusual.
- Combat is too cumbersome. If you're okay with having your characters randomly attack, it's a breeze, but if you want to do strategic combat with techniques, it requires a bunch of menus and clicking about. The other menus are pretty cumbersome as well. Selling and equipping equipment requires a bunch of next page clicks, etc.
- The map design leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the dungeons are just boring mazes, the towns all look the same, and the domes aren't much better.
- Having your party replaced multiple times throughout the game is painful. All the work you did grinding them is for naught once they retire.
- Even with the manual at hand, it's hard to tell which weapons and armor can be used by which characters, and the techniques require memorization because their names are random.
- The chests in dungeons are generally not worth it. Even late in the game you are rewarded for going well out of your way for an item which costs 10-20 meseta? That doesn't impress.
- The expected progression of equipment isn't always followed. There are a couple times where towns, often right next door to each other, sell superior equipment to the other.
- I know the cartridge has limited space, but I really wish Hazatak, the town of cyborgs, actually had cyborg shop keeps.
- I hate that the Anti technique (cure poison) often fails.
- It's annoying that new characters are brought in as level 1 with starting equipment when the rest of your party is powerful. They just keep dying from a single attack until you grind for awhile to get the decently powerful. They should start with a level and equipment to match the party's.
Ugly
- The game is very slowly paced. Characters walk too slow, the menu system is overly complicated, and, in order to be strong enough to fight enemies as you progress (as well as afford new equipment), you have to spend a lot of your time grinding.
- As with most early video game RPGs, the bulk of the game is completing fetch quests to unlock a new part of the map which reveals another fetch quest. It's pretty boring, and it doesn't feel very heroic.
Media
Box Art
The original Japanese box focuses on Rhys showing him with equipment that is fantasy inspired, but clearly futuristic as well. The painting is decent, and the lettering is wonderful, but the background is pretty bland.
The North American art has a generic hero facing a laser-shooting boss on a stairway to space with shiny balls on his head. It's quite abstract and the lettering is much more tame.
Documentation
North American manual.
Videos
- youtube.com/watch?v=JVCDO2khgfY - Longplay.
Titles
| Language | Native | Transliteration | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom | ||
| Japanese | ファンタシースターⅢ 時の継承者 | FantashI Suta III - Ji no Keishosha | The Successor of Time |
Links
- huguesjohnson.com/ps3 - Fan site.
